Apple Inc.

Anthony Joseph Guetta

Patrick L Coffman

Aram M Lindahl

Andrew E Rostaing

Gregory R Chapman

Jonathan Anderson Bennett

Meriko Borogove

Deepak R Iyer

Jeffrey Chandler Moore

Anthony Michael Fadell

Stephen Paul Zadesky

Andrew Bart Hodge

Gregory B Novick

Nathan De Vries

James David Batson

Eric Joseph Johnson

Jason C Conn

Greg Chapman

Robert D Watson

David John Shaw

Ganesha Adkasthala Ganapathi Batta

Patrick Ian Bernhard

Jahan C Minoo

Augustin Prats

Andreas Edgar Schobel

Camille Moussette

Sriram Hariharan

Arun Dhyaneshwar Chawan

Keith Walter Rauenbuehler

Richard Michael Powell

Douglas S Wyatt

Baek San Chang

Alexander C Powers

Matthew Gillette

Brett W Degner

Peter D Anton

Storrs Townsend Hoen

Jonah Alexander Harley

John B Morrell

Samuel Bruce Weiss

Craig P Dooley

Myra Mary Haggerty

Paul William Chinn

Roberto G Yepez

William George Stewart

Ronnie G Misra

Albert Riley Howard

Kelsey Yukio Ho

Andrew B Cato

Christopher K Thomas

Jonathan E Drummond

Curtis Rothert

Benjamin Biron

Douglas A Scott

Chris Saari

Dana McLaughlin

Weijie Zhang

Eric A Allamanche

Matthew Xavier Mora

Raymond B Montagne

Scott James Forstall

Taylor Gerard Carrigan

Michael F Culbert

Bob Bradley

David Tupman

Michael Jason Giles

Daniel S Keen

Baptiste Pierre Paquier

Joseph M Williams

Victor Manuel Tiscareno

Daniel C Klingler

Akshay Mangalam Srivatsa

Aarti Kumar

Astrid Yi

Stephen John Chick

Jay S Laefer

Natalia A Fornshell

Kang Sun

Ashley I Butterworth

Ryan Jeffrey Du Bois

Kevin Saul

Dan Timis

Eric Johnson

David Harrington

Robert Doran Watson

Jonathan A Bennet

Dana Mclaughlin

Riley Howard

Jahan Christian Minoo

Patrick Lee Coffman

Systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable storage media for detecting a wearing status of a wearable device, the wearing status indicating whether a user is wearing the wearable device and sending wearing status data to a companion communication device to control a behavior of the companion communication device.

Changing companion communication device behavior based on status of wearable device

Controlling the output of audio based on the mode of an electronic device having a sound mode, silent mode, and mute mode, along different audio output routes. In the sound mode, all audio can be output, while only registered or authorized audio can be output in the silent mode. In the mute mode, no audio can be output. The sound and silent modes can be enabled using an interface of the device, while the mute mode can be enabled using an accessory coupled to the device. To disengage the mute mode, a user can provide a corresponding instruction using the accessory or providing an instruction on the device related to volume control. Other aspects are also described and claimed.

Interaction of sound, silent and mute modes in an electronic device

A system and method for routing communication to a common audio output device connected to each of two or more audio signal source devices. For each of the two or more audio signal source devices, a set of inputs are assessed. The set of inputs include: an operational state of the audio signal source device, an activity the audio signal source device, an audio-producing application being executed by the audio signal source device, and a degree of user activity with the audio-producing application being executed by the audio signal source. At a point in time, an audio routing score is generated for each of the two or more audio signal source devices according to a weighted calculation of the set of inputs based on the assessing. Finally, an audio signal routing decision is made, to route an audio signal from one of the two or more audio signal source devices to the audio output device, based on the audio routing score for each of the two or more audio signal source devices.

Smart routing for audio output devices

Apparatus and methods to communicate audio data from either an active wireless device or a requesting wireless device to one or more audio reproduction devices that are simultaneously communicatively coupled to both the active wireless device and to the requesting wireless device are disclosed. Responsive to a request from the requesting wireless device to transmit audio data to the one or more audio reproduction devices, the active wireless device determines whether to transmit audio data from the requesting wireless device based at least in part on an audio status of the active wireless device and a set of predetermined arbitration criteria that prioritizes among applications and operating system processes that generate the audio data.

Audio data routing between multiple wirelessly connected devices

This is directed to controlling the output of audio based on the mode of an electronic device. In particular, this is directed to an electronic device having a sound mode, silent mode, and mute mode controlling the output of audio along different audio output routes. In the sound mode, all audio can be output, while only registered or authorized audio can be output in the silent mode. In the mute mode, no audio can be output. The sound and silent modes can be enabled using an interface of the device (e.g., a switch having two possible states), while the mute mode can be enabled using an accessory coupled to the device. To disengage the mute mode, a user can provide a corresponding instruction using the accessory, or providing an instruction on the device related to volume control. For example, a user can change the device volume using an on-device interface, or toggle a sound/silent switch to a sound mode.

In an embodiment, a device may include an attention detection service. The attention detection service may monitor various peripheral devices in the device for indications that a user is paying attention to the device. Various clients may register for notification of attention detection and attention lost (attention no longer detected) events, or may poll the service for the events. If a user is not paying attention to the device, it may be possible to take various actions to permit reduced energy consumption.

Attention detection service

In one aspect a device-side audio handling input/output unit (DIO) of a hardware device writes audio data generated by the hardware device within a ring buffer. An input provided by a user for activation of a software program is received, and a notification that the software program is ready to accept the audio data is generated. A system-side audio handling input/output unit (SIO) additionally provides past audio data from the ring buffer to the software program. Other aspects also are described.

Mechanism for retrieval of previously captured audio

Systems, methods, and computer-readable medium are provided for managing connections of user devices. For example, two source devices may be configured to maintain a data stream with one another. The data stream may enable the two source devices to identify one or more connections between each other and at least a third device. In response to receiving an event that indicates content to be provided to the third device, the data stream may be used by the source devices to configure their network connections with the third device.

Managing connections of a user device

Methods and systems provide control of media synchronization using time stamp pairs. In an embodiment, a first device may request a time stamp from a second device. The first device may determine any de-synchronization between the first and second devices based on the requested time stamp and characteristics of the request. The first device may define a rate scalar based on the determined de-synchronization. A sample rate conversion may be performed for the first device based on the rate scalar such that the outputs of the first device and the second device are synchronized.

Clock synchronization techniques including modification of sample rate conversion

Growing community of inventors

Palo Alto, CA, United States of America

Anthony Joseph Guetta